Meanings
- not comparablePertaining to lines; consisting of lines.
- not comparableanthropologyRelating to aspects of lineage, such as descent, succession, inheritance or consanguinity.
the prime and ancient right of lineal succession
1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], chapter 1, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC1 more example
Oh that your Brows my Laurel had ſuſtain'd, / Well had I been depos'd, if You had Reign'd! / The Father had deſcended for the Son; / For only you are lineal to the Throne.
1693 (first performance), John Dryden, “To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve, on His Comedy, Call’d, The Double-Dealer”, in The Double-Dealer. A Comedy, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1735, →OCLC, Act I, - not comparableuncommonIn the direction of a line; measured or ascertained by a line.
lineal magnitude
Synonyms: linear
- not comparablemediaSans serif.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveIn the direction of a line; measured or ascertained by a line.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivein a straight unbroken line of descent from parent to child
adjectivearranged in a line
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinlīneālis
- Old Frenchlineal
- Englishlineal
From Old French lineal, from Latin līneālis, from līnea (“a line”) + -ālis (adjective-forming suffix). By surface analysis, line + -al. Doublet of linear.
More words from Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
lineal. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lineal
“lineal.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lineal. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lineal,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lineal.
Source: lineal on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.